


Bitter Beer and Very Gay Ice Cream

by Meikakuna



Series: Cheap Beer and Ciggie Cheeks [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Asian Character(s), Australia, Australian Slang, Biphobia, Bisexuality, Co-workers, Drama, Homophobia, Ice Cream, Internalized Biphobia, Interracial Relationship, It's Australian so of course it has swearing, LGBTQ Character of Color, M/M, Ma boi Kei gets addicted to mints, Male Homosexuality, Middle Aged Men, Office, Office Romance, Opposites Attract, Overweight, Racism, Romance, Sequel, Sexuality Crisis, Swearing, Yaoi, with some comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 02:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20686250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meikakuna/pseuds/Meikakuna
Summary: Kei wishes he could forget the night he drunkenly made out with his male co-worker. He really does. But covering up the taste with mints and Golden Gaytime ice cream is doing nothing, and someday he's going to have to figure out what his damn sexuality is.This is a sequel to my story Cheap Beer and Ciggie Cheeks, but you don't need to read that to understand this.





	Bitter Beer and Very Gay Ice Cream

The beep of the car woke Kei up, though he had somehow driven all the way to his ex-wife’s street. He swiftly turned his head around.

“Lisa, put your seatbelt back on.”

“But Daaaaad, we’re almost here!” his daughter whined, puffing her already chubby cheeks out and kicking her little legs against his seat.

“Do you want Dad to go to jail because you couldn’t keep your seatbelt on for five minutes?” he asked as calmly as he could, ignoring the knots in his brain. Lisa huffed but put her seatbelt on. “Good girl. You wouldn’t want your mother to be upset.”

He pulled up in Jane’s driveway and got out of the car. After hugging Lisa goodbye he looked up at Jane and immediately reached into his pocket for a mint.

Jane took Lisa by the hand and rested her remaining hand on her hip, laughing a little. “I’ve never seen someone so addicted to mints. Those are actually mints, right?” she asked as she stood in front of her daughter. Their daughter. Kei nodded, looking down as he gulped two mints at a time. 

_ That _taste was still in his mouth three weeks later. Well, it wasn’t technically still there, but his stupid little brain kept reminding him of it every time he looked at Jane. The taste of bitter beer and the failure it induced.

He didn’t just take mints upon seeing Jane. After all, it wasn’t Jane who caused the taste in the first place.

He still refused to talk to Terrence unless he absolutely needed to at work but just seeing him stirred up a great need to take more mints. He was going to get the mix of his Victoria Bitter and Terrence’s Grand Ridge Supershine from that fateful night out of his mind, even if it gave him diabetes in the process.

Jane saw the way Kei held his arms in, his head facing the ground, and asked him to come inside with her and Lisa. She chortled at his wide eyes.

Her house was narrow but tall, with two stories, smooth grey walls, simple vertical windows and a black, white and red modern interior. Upstairs looked considerably less modern with princess dolls, plush animals and action figures scattered on the Fanta-stained carpet. The only thing downstairs that looked messy that day was the unfinished Tim Tam on the kitchen bench. 

As Kei took off his jacket and sat down in the living room, Jane headed to the bench to finish the chocolate biscuit and turn on the kettle. She took out her phone and handed it to Lisa, suggesting she put her headphones on and play a game. Lisa squealed and ran upstairs, clutching the phone like it was a precious artifact she discovered on an adventure through the jungle. Jane put two mugs on the bench and dropped a tea bag in each one.

“Do you still like green tea?” she asked after the fact. Kei grunted his yes, causing her to sigh.

While waiting for the kettle to boil and taking advantage of the rumbling sound it made, she sat on the couch next to Kei’s chair.

“Okay, what’s up? You’ve been different for a couple of weeks now so don’t try to pretend it’s nothing.” Kei was silent. “You haven’t been like this since we were married. What, did you remarry without me noticing?” Jane believed Kei’s shake of the head. “So what is it? You’re like…” She instinctively looked up the stairs for a second and lowered her voice. “You’re like the scared man you were in our bed. You’re not going through a midlife crisis or something like that, are you? I don’t think Lisa’s ready for something like that.”

Kei smiled like he was about to laugh, but didn’t go through with it. “Define ‘crisis’.”

“Tell me what’s going on and I’ll let you know if it counts.”

Kei leaned back until his head rested on the top of the chair. With the voice of a mail carrier picking up a heavy package, he said, “Just something I’ve got to work through. I’ll be fine, I swear.”

Another sigh from Jane. She said nothing but looked at Kei’s pale face and sunken-in eyes. His once ever-present dimples had hidden underneath a frown. Gone were the big gestures and nostrils that jumped up and down from his constant laughter. Gone was the smooth talker she fell in love with years ago.

The kettle clicked and Jane stood up to pour hot water into the mugs. After handing Kei his tea and sitting down, she drank and waited. And waited. And waited.

“Look, are you going to spill what’s been going on or not?” Kei looked at his distorted reflection in the tea and kept his mouth shut. “Whatever it is, you can tell me any time. You’re still my friend, okay?” Kei nodded and smiled, but with real feeling this time. His dimples finally showed themselves.

That expression soon disappeared when he remembered what he said to Terrence at work before going to the bar.

_ "Hey, you've got a pretty nice smile. You should wear it more often.” _

Of course, he meant nothing strange when he said that. But did Terrence know that? Kei found his answer when he pressed his fingertips against his own lips and tasted the Supershine-VB blend again. 

Once again he reached for his mints but this time Jane smacked his hand away. “You don’t need them. Your breath is fine.”

Kei leaned forward until his arms were on top of his knees, swirling around the mug in his hand. As he responded his swirling got faster and faster.

“You’ve got it all wrong. It’s not about my breath.”

“Then what’s it about?”

“W-well-”

“Muuuuuuuuum! Make me fairy bread!” The two parents heard little feet run down the stairs.

“Please?” Kei suggested with a gentle smile.

Lisa crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks again. “Please.”

He put his hand behind her head, guided her towards him and kissed her forehead. “Good girl.” He stood up and placed the half-full mug down. “I’ll get going. See you both Saturday.” He slipped his jacket back on.

“Wait, we’re not done talking,” Jane said.

Kei grinned at her. “You’ve said plenty.” He clicked his fingers, making the shape of a gun with his hand. “Thank you.”

When he arrived home, he spent an hour lying in bed. He stared at his cracked ceiling, which he hadn’t bothered to fix because his mind was on something else, the same thing that caused him to lie in his bed staring at the ceiling.

His house was usually spotless, with clean country-style furniture that contrasted against the industrial exterior of the building. But over the course of three weeks, takeout boxes and plastic cups had piled up around his living room. Lisa didn’t complain and Jane hadn’t seen the inside of his house in months, so he saw no reason to.

However, whenever he looked at the state of his home, he would call himself one word over and over.

“Obsessed.”

That afternoon, he forced himself out of bed. “I’m getting too old for this shit,” he said aloud despite no one being there to hear him, his ex-wife’s declaration of friendship playing in his mind like a world leader’s inspirational speech. He stumbled over to the bathroom and washed his face. He put on a smile big enough for his dimples to show and winked at his own reflection as if he was talking to May from work. After all, she was still cute, right?

Work the next day went smoothly. As per usual, Kei didn’t talk to Terrence, who kept his head down and ignored him like a good boy. Kei got a fair bit done with time to spare. He used that time to sneak into his coworkers’ cubicles and chatter about various things with them.

May even said, “You’re back. I missed happy Kei. What happened?”

Kei rubbed the back of his neck and laughed but told her nothing.

That was how the first half of the day went. Lunch was when it all went downhill. He and May were chatting in the lounge room when a jittery Terrence brushed past him in the room. Seeing that put Kei’s heart in an apple slinky machine but he had to keep a happy face and talk to May about his nostalgia for classic rock and how he was teaching his daughter how to fish. By the time Ian shouted for everyone to get back to work, sweat was dripping down Kei’s forehead like he already needed another break.

When he got back to work Ian yelled at him for getting something wrong. The worst part was when the yelling transformed into a hushed hiss.

“You lot are supposed to be smart, eh?” he asked as he quirked one corner of his mouth up and pushed his eyebrows up and down. The question felt more like an order.

Kei wondered if HR had taught Ian how to whisper.

He remained silent throughout the torrent of abuse and then had to work with the efficiency of someone who hadn’t just been yelled at. He couldn’t help but smile a little by the end of his shift, though. Working and thinking about Ian’s words did provide a welcome distraction.

Gary, the insensitive son of a bitch, came into Kei’s cubicle and asked, “Hey, you wanna go to the bar with the others? You haven’t been in a while.”

Bar. Alcohol. Victoria Bitter. Supershine. Tongue.

Kei’s cheeks flared up, prompting him to grab his little tin of mints. “Nah, I’m…. I’m good. You lot have fun.”

Gary stood there for a few seconds and opened his mouth but didn’t end up saying anything. He sighed and left him alone.

Instead of following him, Kei headed to his car and was about to go in when he saw an ice cream shop nearby. The faint smell of butterscotch tickled his nose and presented a worthy alternative to the peppermint he kept swallowing.

Then again, with the mints he practically chugged every day and now ice cream, developing diabetes was a distinct possibility.

But then the butterscotch was overpowered by rich chocolate and Kei found himself shambling like a zombie towards the ice cream shop. When he opened the door, he was reminded of what the inside of a liquor store’s freezer room was like, but it was so cool and refreshing that he didn’t feel the need to cleanse the split-second thought of alcohol with a mint. The rush of cool air brought with it the scent of caramel, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and several more obscure flavours. 

He looked around the room and saw three display freezers, one smaller than the other two. The two larger ones had a wide selection of ice creams in different tubs, while the smaller one contained various brands of ice cream on sticks. Above that small freezer was a sign indicating a sale on a particular brand of ice cream, but he couldn’t read which one from where he stood. In front of the freezers were multiple tables. Long benches were bolted to two walls beside the tables, accompanied by stools one would see in a diner in the 1950s.

Several families sat at the tables, some children happily chatting and others arguing with each other over the right to have some of each other’s flavours. The outlier, a lone middle-aged man, sat by the bench, wobbling on the stool as he tried to keep his large frame on it. He was stuffing his face with strawberry ice cream in a big paper cup. Next to him were two empty sticks and wrappers.

Kei’s heart twisted all over again. Of course it had to be him.

Terrence saw him and waved with a grin the size of the paper cup on his bench. Immediately after doing that he gulped air and looked back down at his ice cream. Kei’s initial instinct was to ignore him as per usual, but some unknown force pushed him towards him. Or perhaps it pulled him towards him.

He sat on the stool beside him. “Didn’t expect to see someone from work here.”

Terrence swallowed the ice cream in his mouth. “Yeah, this place is pretty great. By the way, there’s a special on Golden Gaytimes today. I might buy another one.”

Kei shifted his gaze from the softly smiling Terrence to the empty wrappers on the table and, naturally, they were from Golden Gaytimes.

Kei coughed. “G...Gay...times, huh?”

Terrence chuckled and patted Kei on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. The Golden Gaytime is an Australian classic. If this ice cream makes you gay, then all of Australia’s been gay since 1959.”

Laughter tumbled out of Kei’s mouth. “You know the exact year and everything? You an ice cream aficionado or something?”

Terrence winced and blushed but joined in the laughter. “Maybe. In New Zealand, they call it the Cookie Crumble instead of Golden Gaytime. I mean, Jesus, first you take our Pavlova and act like you invented it and then you take our best ice cream but give it a shittier name? This is why I never leave this country.” 

He gasped through his nose and took another bite of his strawberry ice cream. “I mean, you know, I could go to Japan. Seems like a cool place.” With his head facing his cup as he finished the ice cream, he looked up at Kei for approval. Kei’s dimples returned and Terrence’s body relaxed. “Don’t, uh, tell anyone at work about this. I must look pretty pathetic to you, comfort eating like this.”

Kei stood up and patted him on the back. “I’d be a hypocrite if I did that. I came here to do the exact same thing. I’ll be back in a second.”

“Oh. Wait a second.” Terrence reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, slipping some coins into Kei’s hand. “Get me a Gaytime. It’s my last one for today, I promise.”

Kei obliged and even got himself a Golden Gaytime. After handing one to Terrence, the two ate in silence. Kei’s tongue became engulfed in toffee, vanilla, chocolate and biscuit crumbs. He breathed slowly with contentment. 

Terrence eventually broke the silence. “Work troubles? Is that why you’re comfort eating?” Kei nodded. “Same here. I swear Ian’s the garlic ice cream of people.”

“I know, right? The absolute worst. Wait, garlic ice cream’s a thing? Please don’t tell me you put something like that in your body. And I thought you had no hobbies. When did you become this ice cream expert?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call being the most cliche fat person in existence a hobby,” Terrence replied with a chuckle. “I only started looking up stuff about ice cream a few weeks ago, after… well… after I came here to forget about you.”

Kei’s entire body was lit aflame. The pounding of his heart in his ears quickly gave him a headache. The taste of Supershine took over his taste buds faster than the ice cream in his mouth could cover it, so he picked up the speed of his eating. He finished off the frozen treat so quickly that he gave himself a brain freeze.

“I-I see. Sorry,” he said hoarsely as he repeatedly slammed his hand on the bench. He touched the back of his teeth with his tongue in the hope of stopping the freeze.

Terrence waved his hand dismissively. “Nah, don’t worry about it, mate. I’ll be over you in a coupla weeks and you won’t have to worry about a thing. Maybe less than that if you keep acting differently.”

Kei looked away and scratched his cheek. “You noticed that, huh?”

Terrence froze for a second and then dropped his shoulders. “Yeah. Sorry. I swore to myself that I’d stop watching you when I’m eating lunch, but I just can’t help it. I don’t know what’s been bugging you since work hasn’t gotten any worse lately, but keep being bugged. I’ll soon get bored of watching some guy act all depressed.”

“You’ve changed a little too. You’re a little more… what’s it called… open, I guess? How did that happen?”

Terrence pointed to the now three empty ice cream wrappers and Kei understood immediately.

They said goodbye to each other and Kei drove home. In his car, the image of Terrence blushing and getting excited talking about ice cream stuck to his mind. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“Adorable,” he whispered and, right after that word escaped his mouth, he stopped the car for a second, right in the middle of the road. Car horns blared from behind him and he went back to driving.

He swore under his breath. He hadn’t called an adult adorable since divorcing Jane. Yes, Jane. A woman he used to be in love with. A woman.

He remembered a question Terrence had asked him when Kei declared, during the next time they saw each other after that drunken makeout session, that he was, in fact, not gay.

_ "Are you… bisexual?" _

He hadn’t admitted it during that conversation, but a voice in the back of his head had screamed that Terrence was spot on. When Terrence left, another voice had then argued with the first.

_ ‘Jesus Christ, you’re not thirteen. You’re in your bloody forties and now’s not the time to be having some sort of sexual reawakening. You’re not fucking bisexual. Grow up.’ _

A third voice had chanted in Japanese.

_ ‘What about Ayumu? What about Ayumu?’ _

The second voice had been quick to retort to that.

_ ‘Doesn’t count. Experimenting in college doesn’t mean anything. You were both young and stupid, not middle-aged men with full time jobs and shit. And besides, it’s not like you really liked Ayumu. He just liked you.’ _

That response hadn’t been enough to shield Kei from the flurry of memories about Ayumu and his stupid mischievous smirk and his stupid Terrence-like face and his stupid, stupid sexual skill.

Now that Kei was in his car, the memories came back and spread heat throughout his body. He groaned and his knees bumped up and down as he tried to concentrate on the road.

When he reached home, he grinned. He hadn’t felt this young in years. He spent the next twenty minutes in solitary bliss, his thoughts gradually transitioning from Ayumu to Terrence.

As soon as that ended, shame slammed into him with the force of a ute. He went back to his old habit of staring at the cracked ceiling. He thought of his parents back in Japan. He hadn’t called them in ages and now he was doing this while thinking of things like that?

After an hour of moping about, his stomach grumbled, but before preparing dinner he washed his hands and called Jane.

He waited and waited. He exhaled and let his shoulders down when he thought she picked up the phone.

“You’re speaking to Jane Pearce. I can’t come to the phone right now, so please leave a ten-second message after the beep.”

He heard the beep before he even had time to be disappointed. 

“H-Hi Jane, it’s Kei. I really want to talk to you about something. It can wait until tomorrow but I need to get it off my chest and work through some things so I kind of need your help. I don’t know if I’ll be able to actually tell you when the time comes but-”

Another beep. “Shit.”

The next day arrived and he tried to look at and be friendly to Terrence, but every time he saw him he got run over by that shame and had to look away.

Luckily, Jane called him soon after work. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Uh, well, you see… Can I talk to you about this in person? Like, today?”

“I guess so. Lisa did a lot of running around today so she’s having a nap.”

“Thank you.”

He drove to her house and she prepared him some tea. They drank quietly for a moment before Kei finally started talking. “Um, you know when we were talking about me possibly having a midlife crisis?” She nodded and placed her hand on his. “Uh, well, I was wondering…” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Does bisexuality count as a midlife crisis?”

“I’m sorry, what? How is… Oh... Oh! I didn’t know… huh?”

Kei did something he hadn’t done in years: bow. “I’m sorry. I just… shit. This is what’s been worrying me all this time.” 

Jane grabbed his arm and pushed his upper body up. “What… what should I say? Thank you for telling me, I guess. Why’d you start worrying about this now, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I… God, I... “ Kei started trembling a little. “Honestly, to find this out about me this late in the game,” he said as rubbed one side of his face up and down with his hand. He took another sip of his tea. “You probably don’t want to hear about this from your ex.”

“I’ll survive. You’re my friend, remember?”

“Yeah. You’re right. You see… there’s this man, and…. God, I think I’m… at this point it isn’t even falling head over heels, it’s falling arse over tit. I’m a mess. You’re the only person I’ve told. I even lied to him about it.”

“Wow, that’s… quite the honour. You haven’t even told your parents before me?”

Kei slammed his mug onto the coffee table. “No way! I’m never telling them. I’ll just have to wait until they die.” His eyes widened and he began pulling at his own hair. “But, shit, they’re Japanese people with a good diet! How long are they going to live and how long will I have to keep this a secret? I should have called them but this has kinda distracted me.”

“You don’t have to tell them, but you should at least call them. They probably miss you a whole lot.”

“You’re right. But I want to make things right with Terrence first. Before it’s too late. Oh, he’s the man.” Kei laughed awkwardly. “I’ve kind of been avoiding him.”

Jane rubbed the bridge of her nose. “You’ve been _what_? Is he straight?”

“No, he’s gay, or at least gay for me. But if he gets over me, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Footsteps raced downstairs. “Muuuuum! Wait, Dad’s here? Is he picking me up early?” Lisa walked up to Kei and lightly touched under his eyes. “Why are you crying?” she asked with a face contorted with confusion bordering on disgust.

Kei blinked quickly and finally felt the tears on his cheeks. “I was crying?” He turned his head to Jane. “How long for?”

Jane smirked. “About a minute.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” The colour of Kei’s face made him look like he’d just spent several days in the Gold Coast during the height of Summer with no sunscreen. 

“I’d never seen you cry before. It was refreshing.”

“You bitch- uh, sorry, Lisa.” He stroked her hair. Lisa still looked dumbfounded.

“Would you like me to tell her?” Jane asked, finishing off her tea.

“Why would you want to do that? She’s a kid!”

“So? I’ve raised her to be open-minded. Have you not been doing that?” Jane leaned in closer with narrow eyes.

“I-I’ve been an excellent father. Haven’t I, Lisa? You like hanging out with Dad, don’t you?”

Lisa nodded. “But your house is a lot messier than Mum’s.” Kei flinched. “There’s food and boxes everywhere.”

Jane stood up and glared at Kei with the power of a kangaroo’s legs. “What did she say? Do you want CPS to come knocking down your door? Having a midlife crisis or whatever this is is no excuse for not putting Lisa in the best environment for her development! Let me guess, you didn’t read the parenting books I sent you, did you?”

Kei held his hands up as if to shield himself. “Calm down, Jane-”

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down! This is your daughter! Our daughter!” With that sentence, Jane put her hands on her hips. “As soon as you get home, you’re going to clean up your house and tomorrow you’re sorting things out with Terrence and calling your parents! I shouldn’t have to mother you at this age. You’re a grown man and I thought you were responsible!”

“Alright, alright!” Kei picked up his coat and kissed Lisa’s forehead. “I’ll see you both on Saturday.”

Kei followed Jane’s order to clean his house and as soon as he was done he wiped the sweat from his forehead and beamed at the open space. Everything was back to normal. Well, almost everything.

In the middle of their lunch break the next day, Kei asked Terrence to chat outside the employee lounge. They stood by the door.

“What is it?” Terrence asked. He looked down and frowned. “Did I stare at you too much? I’m sorry.”

Seeing Terrence’s concerned face and red cheeks made Kei wonder if he should see a doctor with how fast his own heart was beating.

“No, it’s just… I…” Kei coughed. “I should be the one apologising. I’m the one who ignored you for so long.”

“It’s okay. I get it. I told you I’ll get over you soon. Then we can go back to how things were.”

“I don’t know if I want…” Another cough from Kei. He tried to get the words out but couldn’t. Instead, he looked side to side before pushing Terrence into a wall not visible from the window of the lounge door. He leaned in closer, almost touching his lips, but he stopped himself and stepped back.

“Sorry. I don’t want HR to get the wrong idea.” He turned around and began to walk back to the lounge but Terrence grabbed him by the shoulder.

“It’s fine! Go ahead. You can kiss me if you want.”

Instead of kissing him immediately, Kei wrapped his arms around his torso and gave him a big, strong hug. Terrence loosened the hug and initiated the kiss. It was soft and chaste, yet Kei could still taste a hint of blueberries from the yoghurt Terrence ate. Warmth from his heart spread throughout his entire body until he felt as if he’d just chucked on ten blankets and started watching his favourite childhood movie while it rained outside. For the first time in three weeks, he felt no need to to take a mint.

“What’s going on, eh?”

Terrence and Kei’s shoulders and back became as stiff as bamboo. They immediately let go of each other. Ian stared at them with a sneer and a scrunched up face.

“Nothing!” The couple said in unison.

Ian scoffed a laugh. “Sure, sure.” He waved his hands. “Do whatever, so long as you don’t let it interfere with work. Wanna be poofs, be poofs. It’s the 21st century.”

Kei’s legs shook, fumes coming out of his ears. 

_ Poofs. _

That word was so light and yet it dropped a painful weight onto him. Since moving to Australia, certain words followed him. He’d been called a ‘cunt’ as both an honest insult and a fun, irreverent joke. He’d been called a ‘drop kick’ a couple of times and always returned that insult with another. The word ‘dag’ was basically fused to his soul. But ‘poof’? The sound of that word, fluffy as a cloud, seemed like it was designed to hurt no one, so why did it get under Kei’s skin like no insult ever had?

He turned towards Terrence and saw no reaction to the word. Part of him wanted to get angry with him. The word applied to him more, right? Why wasn’t he frothing at the mouth?

But then he remembered something. Terrence was simply called a poof. Ian never said ‘you lot’ to him followed by some stereotype, at least not yet. Kei was no longer just ‘you lot’; he was ‘you lot’ and a ‘poof’ at once.

Kei’s fists hurt from being clenched so tightly. “Then what about my race? Is that not included in this century?” As soon as he asked that, he froze with moon-sized eyes.

Ian stormed up to them. “What did you say to me?”

Kei’s heart went cold and dropped down into his stomach. The rest of his body joined his legs to tremble in solidarity. He put on a smile but not one big enough to show his dimples.

Terrence gave Kei’s shoulder several gentle squeezes. “He just wants to be able to work without you bringing his race into everything.” With a smooth, controlled voice, Kei assumed Terrence looked as confident and manly as Kei did not feel at that moment, but when he turned towards him, he saw that he was shaking as well.

“Come on, that’s just a joke. He’s lived here awhile. He knows I’m just being a larrikin.”

Kei shook his head. “It doesn’t feel like that sometimes. I don’t want to report you to HR, but if this keeps happening, I _ will _do it.”

Ian glared at them before turning around and leaving them. Kei hugged Terrence in thanks, basking in the warmth that the man’s arms provided.

Terrence looked at his watch. ‘1:24.’ There was still time. He hesitated before taking Kei’s hand. He cocked his head towards the lounge and Kei nodded, the dimples on his cheeks and the wrinkles by his eyes finally showing.

They chatted by the water cooler and Kei made a grand gesture to show the size of the fish Lisa caught. Terrence instinctively clapped, causing Kei’s nostrils to jump up and down again.

After work, Kei called his parents. “Hi, sorry it’s been so long. Yeah, I’m good.” His father commented in a coarse voice that Kei sounded happy. “I do?” Kei asked with a laugh. His mother asked him with a chipper voice if it was because he found a new wife. Kei laughed again, grabbing Terrence’s hand. “Well, uh, not exactly. I did start seeing someone, though. H… He’s pretty great.” The other end was silent. “Mama, Papa? Are you okay?”

“Yes, it’s just… did you say ‘he’?” his mother asked. “That’s unexpected. So you’re a… what’s the word?”

Papa pitched in. “Homo? Is that the right word?”

“No, Papa,” Kei said with a sigh, though he admittedly had to take a few seconds to remember the Japanese term. “I’m bisexual. Are you mad at me?”

“No, we’re just worried,” Mama said. “We want you to be happy. You won’t be able to marry this man, right?”

Kei’s limbs stopped shaking as relief swept over him. “Mama, it’s a bit too early for that. And I could in Australia if I wanted to.”

“Really? Then good luck! And send us some souvenirs! Talk to us next week!”

After saying goodbye and hanging up, Kei took Terrence by the hand to the pub where everything changed. Gary and their other work pals Pete, Dave and Bob were waiting for them, already chugging beers with the exception of Pete, who was on sober duty that night. They immediately made room for the two of them. 

“You gonna get a Supershine again?” Kei asked Terrence, who shook his head and went up to order a Crown. Kei followed him to the bar and pretended to sulk. “I miss the taste already.”

Terrence’s cheeks looked like the end of a ciggie. “You’ll have to get used to tasting Crown with your VB. I’m not getting a hangover that bad again.” He turned to Kei. “I didn’t just say that, did I?”

Kei burst out laughing. He heard a familiar song playing in the bar and started dancing his silly little dance.

“Come on, Terry, join me, ya cunt!”

Terrence chuckled and left his bottle with the others before doing what Kei said. It was just two dags dancing badly to an old song and ignoring anyone in the bar who dared to stare at them. And they didn’t need mints or multiple rounds of beer or even ice cream to do it.


End file.
